JDeveloper 11gR2 (11.1.2) aka The Sherman Release is out – so much to write about…

Early this morning, Oracle released JDeveloper 11g Release 2:

This release can be downloaded from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/downloads/index.html

This list of new features – long and quite impressive – is here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/jdev-11gr2-nf-404365.html. Release notes: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/shermanrelnotes-405777.html

Documentation can be found here: documentation home for JDeveloper 11gR2 – http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E16162_01/index.htm

A number of tutorials is already available for 11gR2: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E18941_01/tutorials/toc.htm

The integrated WebLogic Server for this release of JDeveloper is still 10.3.5, the same that shipped with PS4 just weeks ago. I do not believe we will see 11gR2 releases for other FMW components in the very near future. For doing OSB, SOA Suite, WebCenter and BPM development – stick with 11gR1 PS4

For some apparently weird reason, this release is labeled 11.1.2 internally (instead of 11.2…. something):

It starts blazingly fast on my laptop:

This is primarily because it does not load everything at once. Many extension and components are only dynamically, lazy loaded when the user first accesses them. That means that when you open a wizard or editor for the first time, there can be a small delay. So far, I did not experience these delays as bothersome. The gain in initial startup time far far outweighs these tiny delays.

Some very interesting new features that deserve some attention:

• JSF 2.0
• Maven support
• Skin Editor
• Thematic Map Component and many other DVT improvements
• JPA/EJB Data Control
• REST support (PUT, POST and DELETE ) in in URL Data Control
• Drag and Drop between Graphs
• Label Styles on InputComponents
• Support for nested Page Templates
• Hot Reload in integrated WLS Server of changes in ADF BC XML files
• Also: hot swapping in WLS of changed classes (without going into DEBUG mode)
• Conversion support for ADF Faces layout components
• Test WebService directly from WSDL editor
• Some interesting Java Refactoring options (Externalize strings, Internationalize, Extract Class)
• 64 bit support for Windows